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| Hyundai Card headquarters on Yeouido / Courtesy of Hyundai Card |
Hyundai Card will select a lead manager of for its initial public offering (IPO) in November at the latest, the company said Thursday.
The card issuer said it has submitted a request for proposal (RFP) to major brokerages, including Mirae Asset Daewoo and Citigroup Global Markets Securities Korea, to lead the credit card firm's IPO.
"We plan to choose a lead manager for the IPO by next month," a Hyundai Card official said. "We haven't concluded a detailed timetable for the IPO itself just yet."
This is the latest move after the company recently announced its plan to push for the IPO next year.
If the card issuer goes public, it will be the second in the card industry following Samsung Card which raised more than 9.7 trillion won when it listed itself on the benchmark KOSPI in June 2007.
However, there may be obstacles because the nation's card firms have posted ever-worsening earnings due to sluggish domestic consumption.
Sources said Hyundai Card is seeking to raise at least 2.5 trillion won through the IPO, but analysts said this may be a bit too tough.
"Considering Samsung Card's price to book-value ratio (PBR) of 0.5 or 0.6, Hyundai Card's value is estimated at less than 2 trillion won since the card firm's capital totals 3.3 trillion won," a major securities firm IPO researcher said on condition of anonymity.
"Hyundai Card managed to post solid earnings in the first half of the year, but the business environment is continuing to worsen for card firms. Its stakeholders are unlikely to be satisfied with a 2 trillion won IPO at this point."
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